Inside Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier mostly travels, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating people and subjects. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all circles in this urban chronicle.
In the mid-1980s, little Josée Tellier saw charismatic Montreal Expos outfielder Andre Dawson on television. It’s love at first sight.
From there was born his passion for baseball. Moved from North Hatley, in the Eastern Townships, to Montreal in 1999, she became a regular at the Olympic Stadium … until her Loves’ defection for Washington in 2004.
“I traveled to visit the 30 major league stadiums of the time,” recalls the one who attended about 40 Expos games a year.
Known in the publishing world, the one who has known herself dedicated to the profession of designer since the age of 5 has notably designed the covers for the “Raconte-moi” collection and the series. Aurélie Laflamme’s Journal.
On the occasion of the 50e anniversary of the former Montreal team, in 2019, it illustrated 50 of its former notable players. Impressed, the organizers asked him for permission to project his drawings on the stadium screen during the ceremony.
Photo courtesy, Josée Tellier
Josée Tellier began by drawing cards for the Expos, like, here, that of pitcher Pedro Martinez.
“It was one of the biggest buzzes of my career,” remembers the one whose dining room is adorned with an altar honoring the icons of the Expos and whose living room has as decorative highlight a deer head wearing a deer head. an Expos cap.
Within 10 days of fulfilling his dream of meeting his phantasmic Andre Dawson, in March 2020, at a gala in Montreal, confinement is decreed.
Winter 2020-2021 gives him a double slap. She loses her father and mother a month apart. During a season, no desire to draw.
Saved by Yogi Berra
Photo courtesy, Josée Tellier
This card from Yogi Berra made Josée Tellier understand the extent of the demand for great baseball cards.
With her Twitter account MissTellier, she nevertheless follows the news of baseball. Scandalized by two new cards representing Yogi Berra, the mythical receiver of the New York Yankees of the 1950s, which she considers disrespectful, she has the idea of drawing her own!
On Twitter at the end of April, the card arouses a craze that disconcerts its creator. She prints 50 and sells everything in 36 hours.
“It was Yogi Berra who brought me back to life! »She sums up.
At the beginning of May, for the 90 years of Willie Mays, she devotes a card to him printed in 90 copies, all gone in a few days, in her Etsy shop MissTellier.
Photo courtesy, Josée Tellier
The 90 copies of this Willie Mays card quickly sold out.
The Josh Gibson Foundation, the legendary American Black League player, then launches a card contest. Josée Tellier quickly sold 100 copies of hers for $ 40, her highest price so far. Half of the proceeds go to the Josh Gibson Youth Foundation. She wins the competition against 74 other designers and will be guest of honor at a gala in Pittsburgh in October.
Photo courtesy, Josée Tellier
Last week, Josée Tellier beat 74 other designers with this Josh Gibson card.
Nine other cards
The 45-year-old artist (“the stage age,” she points out) is now preparing a Hank Aaron card and intends to dedicate nine more cards to legends such as Babe Ruth. It’s hard to say what will end up with its prints and its price.
“I had underestimated the demand for baseball cards,” says the one who recently quit her job as artistic director of a clothing company to focus on the sports card.
I wish her all the success she deserves … and to meet Andre Dawson.
